communication for airline staffs in a second language · motivation. therefore, after learning...

Communication for Airline Staffs in a Second Language

SHIFAT SARA ALAM

ID: 13263019

Department of English and Humanities

August, 2015


2

A Thesis

Submitted to the Department of English and Humanities

Of

BRAC University

By

Shifat Sara Alam

ID-13263019

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree

of

Master of Arts in English

August, 2015


3

Content

Page No.

Chapter-1 Introduction...............................................................................................7

Chapter- 2 Literature Review........................................................................................10

2.1 What is ESP? ..........................................................................................................10

2.2 The Origins of ESP..................................................................................................12

2.3 Types of ESP...........................................................................................................13

2.4 What is the Purpose of ESP?....................................................................................16

2.5 Needs Analysis........................................................................................................17

Chapter -3 Research Methodology..................................................................................19

3.1 Data Collection..........................................................................................................20

3.2 Instrument Principles for Designing............................................................................20

3.3 Participants................................................................................................................20

Chapter-4 Finding Analysis............................................................................................22

Chapter-5 Conclusion.....................................................................................................30

5.1 Conclusion.................................................................................................................30

5.2 Reference..................................................................................................................31

Appendix.........................................................................................................................34


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Survey Questions..............................................................................................................34

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Almighty Allah for giving me the opportunity to complete this dissertation.

My heartiest thank to my supervisor, Mrs. Shenin Ziauddin, for her support, motivation and

proper guidelines. Without her help, it would not have been possible for me to complete this

dissertation. I would also like to thank all the staffs who participated in this survey and made this

study possible.

I would also like to thank my parents and also my husband Dr. Khaled Parvez, for all the support

and encouragement for completing this paper.

However, I would like to apologize if there is any typing error, despite my utmost care.

Shifat Sara Alam

ID 13263019

August, 2015


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Abstract

This study investigated the areas of difficulty in English expressed by the staffs of different

airlines. Since an ESP course is going to be held in their refreshment program, therefore, in order

to work in a promising way, and to overcome the lacking they had, through this survey, the

participants actually expressed their opinions on the items they would like to add and the items

they wanted to exclude from the ESP course. Thirty-five employees of different airlines from

various fields participated in this survey. They were provided with twenty-five questions. All the

data has been collected according to their inferences.


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Keywords

(ESP)English for Specific Purposes, airline staffs, flight attendants, Needs Analysis,

characteristics, authentic text, communication and specific needs.


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Chapter : 1 - Introduction

In the recent years, the airline industry seems to be developing in Bangladesh. Besides the

national airline, many private airlines have also launched. They are carrying passengers to and

from Bangladesh. So, in order to retain their services, they are actually competing to become the

best airlines of the nation. Therefore, this rapid emerging of new aircrafts requires many skillful

flight attendants who can communicate with the passengers of various nationalities in English

both fluently and confidently.

Now a skillful airline staff is someone who is both physically and mentally active. Who can

speak very politely with the passengers, can tactfully handle the situations and solve any

problems that may arise on board. Since, the flight attendants need to deal directly with public,

working on both domestic as well as on international destinations; the flight attendant has to be

very active and careful while communicating with the passengers. He/she should always be

prepared to face any foreign passenger on board; whether a child, or a handicap or an old

passenger, therefore, being able to communicate in English is definitely very essential in this

profession. Even the pilots need to be very fluent in English, since they have to communicate

with the control tower in various international destinations while takeoff and landings. Also the

announcements made on board has to be very clear, so that it is understandable for all the

passengers. Then the announcements made by the ground staffs also needs to be clear enough.

English being lingua franca is spoken by a large speech community all over the world. In fact, in

today’s world, speaking English has become a necessity. Over the years, English has gradually

become the language of global trade and commerce. According to Wall, 2008, (as cited in


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Cornwall & Srilapung, 2013),one main reason why it is employed in general communication is

that over the last century, it has been associated with economic modernization, information

technology, and industrial development (p.286). Moreover, with the globalization of trade,

commerce and employments in multinational companies, the importance of fluent spoken English

has grown immensely being the global language.

Therefore, learning English and being to communicate in it is one of the chief objectives of this

paper, and also how effective the learning process actually is. The airline business depends

mostly on the flight management and the customer service provided by the flight attendants.

Hence, it is very essential that the flight attendants assign very graciously with the passengers, try

to handle any sort of problematic situation without difficulty by communicating with the

passengers in English.

Being able to communicate in English is one of the most fundamental requirements of this

profession. Since, English is an international language and is accepted globally.

In communication, problems may arise, if the message that is being delivered to the passenger is

not clear enough, if the flight attendant is not able to make the passenger understand the situation,

or if the passenger is not willing to adjust with the situation. As M.J. Rouse and S. Rouse (2002)

has suggested, as cited in (Cornwall & Srilapung, 2013) that barriers to oral communication are

usually human problems rather than technical obstacles, (p.286).

In Bangladesh, we have schools of types: Bangla and English. In Bangla medium schools, the

medium of instruction is Bangla, where English is being taught only as a subject. On the other

hand, in English mediums schools, the medium of instruction in English and all the subjects

including Science, Mathematics, History, Geography, Commerce, Accounting, etc. are being


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taught in English. So, it is often seen that the students of Bangla medium school learn English

with extrinsic motivation. But there are some students who learn English with intrinsic

motivation. Therefore, after learning English as a subject for twelve years, people often lack in

communicating fluently in it. In this case, some of the airline staffs sometimes fail to reveal a

minimum level of satisfactory and thus are unable to communicate fluently and accurately with

the passengers in English.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the opinions of the employers from different

airlines, regarding the materials for their refreshment course. This was done in order to improve

their skills and develop their lacking in specific areas. The content of the questionnaire is

specially designed for airlines staffs, and the participants are the one who decides what material

should be included and what should be removed from their refreshment classes in ESP. So, for

this investigation, the participants are provided with a set of questionnaire where they answer by

choosing from the options provided. And the results have been obtained using their opinions.

Since this is an ESP course, i.e. English for Specific Purposes, in the following section, I have

mentioned the Definition, Origin, Types and Purposes of ESP, and also the Needs analysis.


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Chapter : 2 - Literature Review

2.1 What is ESP?

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) have defined ESP as an “approach” rather than a “product”,

where the central question is : “Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language?” They

further theorize that, "ESP is not a particular kind of language or a language methodology, or

does it consists of a particular type of teaching material. ESP is an approach to language teaching

in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning" (p.

19).

According to Robinson, (1991), ESP is 'normally goal-oriented' and ESP courses develop from

needs analysis. In ESP, the objectives should be accomplished within a limited time and it is

usually taught to adults in Homogeneous classes, (p.3).

ESP requires techniques that are specific, focused and exclusive. As cited in Johns & Dudley-

Evans, 1991, an English for academic purposes (EAP) class taught collaboratively by a language

teacher and a subject-area lecturer (T. F. Johns & Dudley-Evans, 1980, p.6-23), sheltered and

adjunct EAP classes (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989), and special English classes for students

in the workplace (Lompers, 1991) require considerably different approaches than those found in

general English classes, (p.305).

Strevens' (1988) definition makes a distinction between four absolute and two variable

characteristics:

I. Absolute Characteristics:


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ESP consists of English language teaching which is:

• designed to meet specified needs of the learner;

• related in content (i.e. in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and

activities;

• centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics,

etc., and analysis of this discourse;

• in contrast with General English.

II. Variable characteristics:

ESP may be, but is not necessarily:

• restricted as to the language skills to be learned (e.g. reading only);

• taught according to any pre-ordained methodology (Gatehouse, 2001 cf. Strevens, 1998, p. 1-2).

This definition compares ESP with General English. Therefore, the emphasis is on “Specific

English” that belongs to some particular regulation, profession or activity. This definition makes

it mandatory that ESP courses should concentrate on the language, i.e. syntax, lexis, discourse,

semantics etc., which is appropriate for some particular discipline, occupation or activity.

However, Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998, have presented a modified definition of ESP which

is also comprised of absolute and variable characteristics of ESP that are as follows:

I. “I. Absolute Characteristics

• ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner;

• ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves;


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• ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genres

appropriate to these activities.

II. Variable Characteristics

• ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;

• ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of

general English;

• ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a

professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;

• ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;

• Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used

with beginners” (p. 4-5).

2.2 The Origins of ESP

English for Specific Purposes emerged in the late 1960's. According to Hutchinson & Waters,

1987, there are three key reasons to the emergence of all ESP: "the demands of a Brave New

World", "a revolution in linguistics", and "focus on the learner" (p.6-8). First, the end of the

Second World War in 1945 indicated with it:

an age of enormous and unprecedented expansion in scientific, technical and economic activity

on an international scale...most notably the economic power of the United States in the post-war

world, this role fell to English.(p.6)


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Followed by the development that was "accelerated by the Oil Crisis of the early 1970s, which

resulted in the massive flow of funds and Western expertise into the oil-rich countries...Time and

money constraints created a need for cost-effective courses with clearly defined goals" (p.7).

The second key reason was ''a revolution in linguistics''. As Hutchinson and Waters, 1987,

discusses that "Traditionally the aim of linguistics had been to describe the rules of English

usage, that is, the grammar", (p.7). They have also discussed that the language that people use

while speaking differs from the language that they use in written form. And that there is also

differences in English for commerce and English for engineering purposes. It was the late 1960s

and early 1970s during which the particular varieties of English flourished, for example

description of written scientific and technical English by Ewer and Latorre (1969), Swales

(1971), Selinker and Trimble (1976) and others. And also the study of doctor-patient

communication by Candlin, Bruton and Leather (1976). Hence, a position was created that ''Tell

me what you need English for and I will tell you the English that you need", became the core idea

of ESP (p.7-8).

The third key reason for the origin of ESP was ''focus on the learner''. Now the central scheme of

ESP was to know the purpose of learning English. People have different needs, interests and

which definitely plays an important role on how much motivated are they going to be while

learning the new language. The development of ESP combined three essential features, such as:

the expansion of demand for English to enable specific needs and developments in the fields of

linguistics and educational psychology.

2.3 Types of ESP


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David Carter (1983) identifies three types of ESP:

English as a restricted language

English for Academic and Occupational Purposes

English with specific topics(p.131-137).

English as a restricted language can be found in situations like English for the waiters serving in a

hotel, and English for labors, English for business purposes and so on. However, Mackay and

Mountford (1978) clearly illustrate the difference between restricted language and language with

this statement:

the language of international air-traffic control could be regarded as 'special', in the sense that

the repertoire required by the controller is strictly limited and can be accurately determined

situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-room waiter or air-hostess. However,

such restricted repertoires are not languages, just as a tourist phrase book is not grammar.

Knowing a restricted 'language' would not allow the speaker to communicate effectively in novel

situation, or in contexts outside the vocational environment (p. 4-5).

Second comes English for Academic and Occupational Purposes. In the tree of ELT, as

illustrated by Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, ESP is broken down into three main branches: a)

English for Science and Technology (EST), b) English for Business and Economics (EBE), and

c) English for Social Studies (ESS). Then each of these branches is further divided into two

criteria: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP),

(p.16-17). Therefore, 'a tree cannot survive without roots. The roots which nourish the tree of

ELT are communication and learning,' (p.18). The Tree of ELT as (cited in Javid, 2013, p.142),


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Figure-1

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) have argued that “people can work and study simultaneously; it is

also likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will

be used later when the student takes up, or returns to, a job”(p. 16). Dudley-Evans and St. John

(1998, p. 5) have also included only EAP and EOP in their division of ESP. Their suggested

classification is, as (cited in Javid,2013, p.143):


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Figure-2

The third type of ESP identified by Carter (1983, p.131-137) is English with specific topics. This

is where emphasis shifts from purpose to topic. For example, a teacher of mathematics, who lacks

while communicating in English with his students and colleagues, needs to learn English for

working in institutions where the medium of instruction is in English, so that he can be

financially solvent. So this shows that he will be motivated to learn the language extrinsically.

This is also known as situational language, which is usually determined on the results from needs

analysis of authentic language used in target workplace settings.

2.4 What is the Purpose of ESP?

A lot of research has been made to identify the chief goal or the purpose that ESP can serve to the

people of the community. As advocated by Hutchinson and Waters 1987, “the purpose of an ESP

course is to enable learners to function adequately in a target situation” (p. 12). ESP course


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contents should be “goal-directed” (Hadley, 2006 cf. Robinson, 1991) and “centered on the

language (grammar, lexis, register etc.), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to the activities

of the discipline it serves”(Hadley, 2006 cf. Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998, p. 5).

Chantrupanth, 1993 offered reflective appreciation into “designing a short course” and reported

that “the teaching material should be prepared specifically to meet the needs of the students either

for their academic purposes or their careers” (p. 9). ESP practitioners have been advised to

modify the ready-made textbooks because “adapted materials are more suitable to ESP learners

than textbooks since no textbooks could fully satisfy the particular needs of any ESP

learners”(Chen, 2006 cf. Chen, 2005, p. 40).Chen (2000,p. 395) has also anticipated that ESP

practitioners need to widen their own ESP courses considering their specific teaching

environment and the learners’ specific needs because “there is no espoused ESP curriculum that

corresponds to the particular teaching setting that many a prospective ESP teacher may

encounter”. He further elaborated his point of view and rejected “conventional theory-into-

practice ESP training model and suggested a more flexible model of “context-specific principles

of ESP curriculum development”(ibid., p. 398). Chen (2006: cf. Robinson, 1991, p. 41) has

recommended that “in-house materials” are much more valid and useful as compared to ready-

made published textbooks because they are tailored according to the specific needs of the learners

and the indigenous teaching settings.

2.5 Needs Analysis

As Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, has encapsulated a question while defining ESP that 'Why do

these learners need to learn English?'(p.53). So, this shows that the course instructor needs to


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know the reason or motive behind learning English. It is also necessary to identify the areas

where the person lacks while communicating. That is, instructor must be aware of the existing

knowledge of the learner, so that he can identify the necessities that the learner lacks. Hutchinson

& Waters, 1987, has also suggested that "Probably, the most thorough and widely known work

on needs analysis is John Munby's Communicative Syllabus Design (1978). Munby presents a

highly detailed set of procedures for discovering target situation needs. He calls this set of

procedures the Communication Needs Processor (CNP). The CNP consists of a range of

questions about key communication variables (topic, participants, medium, etc.) which can be

used to identify the target language needs of any group of learners."( p.54)

The chief purpose of an ESP course is to enable learners to work effectively in a target situation.

This refers to the situation they will have to face after learning the language. Therefore, the ESP

course designer should identify the situation that the learner will have to deal with, and then

linguistic features of that target situation should be analyzed. And this process is known as needs

analysis, which mainly focused on learners’ needs.


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Chapter 3: Research Methodology

A questionnaire was used since it is very efficient. The participants were asked to rate the places

which they think they have difficulties, and they need to improve those areas by placing a tick

mark on the options provided such as: yes, no, agree, disagree and neutral. The study was held

with thirty-five staffs, where 65.71%, (23) were male and 34.29% (12) were female staffs.

Figure-3

The questionnaire consists of twenty five close-ended questions.

The researcher needs to know the problems that has been indicated, whether it needs a change in

the advanced class that will be held as their refreshment course. If it needs a change, then what

items should be added and what should be removed from the course outline. Since the airline

business is being more competitive, so the learning has to be more accurate and specific.

65.71%

34.29%

Male

Female


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3.1 Data Collection Procedure

A questionnaire is one of the most useful method of collecting data. All the questions are close-

ended. Quantitative questionnaire has been used in collecting data for this research. There are

many advantages in using a questionnaire. It is easy for the researcher to collect data properly

within a short time. The responses are easy to analyze. According to Seliger (1989), “...Since the

same questionnaire is given to all subjects, the data are more uniform and standard. Since they

can usually be given to all subjects at exactly the same time or within the short period of time, the

data are more accurate...” (p. 173).

3.2 Instrument Principles for designing

Printed forms have been used to analyze the data, which include questions or statements to which

the participants are expected to respond. There are number of ways to design a questionnaire.

However, using twenty to twenty-five questions in each set is one of the most common ways of

designing a survey questionnaire. All the calculations of the percentages have been determined

using the device, Samsung Galaxy S4. This calculation is very useful since it verifies the

percentage of the responses decided by the respondents. Hence, the responses have been allocated

in this research.

3.3 Participants

The participants in this survey are currently working in different Airlines and in various respected

fields. Thirty-five airline staffs have been selected randomly. All participants use Bangla as their


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L1 and English as their second or foreign language. The same set of questionnaire was distributed

among them. However, in order to continue to work in their respected fields in a more promising

way, and to bring some improvement to their lacking, in this survey, they have opined the areas

of second language which should be more focused and which can be removed from their

refreshment course in ESP.


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Chapter 4: Finding Analysis

Both Table-1 and Table-2 shows the questions or statement along with the responses made by the

participants in terms of percentages.

Table -01

Yes No

Teaching grammar 100% 0.00%

Use of authentic text 91.43% 8.57%

Playing interactive games in

grammar & vocabulary

94.285% 5.71%

Preference of activities such as

information gap

65.71% 34.285%

Use of cooperative learning

method

100% 0.00%

Practicing comprehension 94.285% 5.71%

Use of CLT 100% 0.00%

Teaching language structure &

vocabulary

100% 0.00%

Teaching idioms & collocations 85.714% 14.285%

Use of forms 85.714% 14.285%

Listening to audio tapes 100% 0.00%

Facilitation through watching

classical movies

65.71% 34.29%


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Watching English movies with

subtitles

100% 0.00%

Teaching Politeness 97.142% 2.857%

Emphasizing on Intonation &

stress

28.571% 71.428%

Emphasizing on use of correct

pronunciations

100% 0.00%

Is your motivation intrinsic 34.285% 65.714%

Table-02

Agree Neutral Disagree

Do you prefer learning a language mainly

through imitation?

14.285% 42.857% 42.857%

Would you prefer English to be taught

interactively?

94.29% 0.00% 5.714%

Does practicing tenses facilitate you to

communicate with the passengers?

71.428% 28.571% 0.00%

Does activities like role play, pair work and

group work help you to communicate with

the passengers?

80.00% 20.00% 0.00%

Do you think the use of sign and body 71.428% 28.571% 0.00%


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language would facilitate your

communication with the passenger?

Do you think practicing dialogue writing

would facilitate your communication with the

passengers?

71.428% 22.857% 5.714%

As a common language, if only English is

used rather than any other languages, would

this be a better option?

65.714% 14.285% 20.00%

Do you think reading English newspaper

might aid you in learning the language?

91.428% 8.571% 0.00%

The data was analyzed depending on the answers provided by the participants in the survey

results. From the result found in the questionnaire data, it shows the opinions of the employees

and the aspects they would like to modify in their upcoming refreshment course based on ESP.

When the staffs were questioned whether teaching grammar efficiently would facilitate them to

interact with the passengers, all thirty-five employees, .i.e. 100% agreed to this and opined 'yes',

whereas, 0.00% chose 'no'. According to Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998, as mentioned earlier,

"ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genres

appropriate to these activities".


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Figure 4: Use of authentic text

When questioned regarding the use of authentic texts and whether it would facilitate them to

communicate with the passengers or not, 91.43% , i.e. thirty-three participants opined 'yes',

whereas only 8.57%, i.e. two of them said 'no'.

Figure 5: Playing interactive games in grammar and vocabulary

91.43%

8.57%

Yes

No

94.29%

5.71%

Yes

No


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When the participants were asked whether activities like playing interactive games in grammar

and vocabulary improves English, 94.29%, i.e. thirty-three of them responded 'yes', whereas only

5.71%, i.e. two of them said 'no'.

When asked whether activities like information gap would facilitate in learning the language,

65.71%, i.e. twenty-three of them opined 'yes', whereas 37.142%, i.e. thirteen said 'no'.

When they were asked whether cooperative learning method would be more effective, all thirty-

five participants responded 'yes', and none said 'no'.

94.285%, i.e. thirty-three participants responded to 'yes', and 5.71%, i.e. two of them responded

to 'no', when questioned about the understanding of English by practicing comprehension.

When asked about using CLT approach and whether it accelerates in motivation among the peers

and facilitation in learning language, all thirty-five participants, 100% responded to 'yes', and

none said 'no'. As suggested by Larsen-Freeman, 2000, 'Communicative interaction encourages

cooperative relationships among students. It gives students an opportunity to work on negotiating

meaning,' (p.127).

When the employees were asked whether the language structure and vocabulary should be taught

efficiently or not, 100%, (35) participants opined 'yes' and none said 'no'. In situations when

students do not have sufficient instructions from English or of any other second language, it is the

responsibility of the learners themselves to reinforce their vocabulary Lu, 2008, (p. 515-525).


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Figure 6: Teaching idioms and collocations

When the participants were asked whether idioms and collocations should be taught efficiently,

85.71%, i.e. thirty of them replied 'yes', and 14.29%, i.e. only five of them replied 'no'.

94.285%, i.e. thirty-three participants opined 'yes' and 5.71%, i.e. two of them opined 'no', when

they were asked about giving importance in teaching of forms.

All thirty-five participants responded to 'yes' when questioned about facilitation of language

learning through audio tapes.

Figure 7: Facilitation by watching Classical Movies

When questioned about facilitation of learning English by watching classical movies, 65.71%, i.e.

twenty-three participants responded to 'yes' and 34.29%, i.e. twelve of them said 'no'.

85.71%

14.29%

Yes

No

65.71%

34.29%

Yes

No


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All thirty-five participants, i.e. 100% preferred in watching English movies with subtitles, and

0.00%, i.e. none responded to 'no' .

All thirty- five participants, 100% said 'yes' in giving emphasis to the aspects of politeness and

0.00%, i.e. none said 'no' to it.

Ten participants, i.e. 28.571% , said 'yes' and twenty-five of them, i.e. 71.428% said 'no', when

they were questioned about emphasizing on intonation and stress.

All thirty-five participants agreed to put emphasis on correct punctuations and none said 'no' to

it.

Figure 8: Intrinsic Motivation

When questioned about whether their motivation behind learning English is intrinsic or not,

34.285%, i.e. twelve of them replied 'yes', whereas, 65.714%, i.e. twenty-three replied 'no'.

When the employees were asked whether they prefer learning a language mainly through

imitation, only 14.285% (5) people agreed to it, whereas 42.857% (15) people disagreed and

42.857% (15) people were neutral about it.

34.29%

65.71%

Yes

No


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When asked whether they prefer English to be taught interactively, 94.29% , i.e. thirty-three of

the participants agreed, whereas, 5.71% , i.e. only two of them disagreed and none were neutral

about it.

When the participants were asked whether practicing tenses facilitate them to communicate with

the passengers, 71.428%, i.e. twenty-five of them agreed, whereas 28.571% i.e. ten people were

neutral about it and none of them disagreed.

Twenty-eight participants, i.e. 80% agreed to activities such as role play, pair work and group

work to aid in communicating with the passengers, whereas, 20%, seven were neutral about it

and no one disagreed.

Twenty-five participants, i.e. 71.428% agreed that the use of sign and body language facilitates

communication with the passengers, whereas, ten of them, i.e. 28.571% were neutral about it and

none of them disagreed to it.

71.428%, i.e. twenty-five participants agreed that practicing dialogue writing facilitates

communication with the passengers, while 22.857%, i.e. eight of them were neutral about it, and

5.714%, only two of them disagreed to it.

When asked whether reading English newspaper might aid in learning the language, 91.428%,

i.e. thirty-two participants agreed to it, whereas 8.571%, i.e. three were neutral about it and

0.00% disagreed to it.

Twenty-three participants, i.e. 65.714% agreed that only English should be used as a common

language, whereas only five of them, 14.285% were neutral about it, and seven of them, 20%

disagreed to it.


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Chapter 5 : Conclusion

This research has heightened the areas of the target language, i.e. English, that needs to be

focused as estimated by the airlines employers. Since this is as ESP course, gathering the

evaluation of the staffs before the refreshment program is absolutely fundamental. This survey

was compiled with a limited population of thirty-five people approaching from two different

educational backgrounds, i.e. Bangla and English medium institutions, and both learning English

as their second language. Therefore, to be successful in their required fields, and to maintain the

standard of the airlines, the learning has to be more specific.

The employees with intrinsic motivation in learning the language, sincerity, good educational

background and professionalism will definitely be able to achieve a positive outcome from their

course. The ones with extrinsic motivation will also be able to reach their goal with hard work

and determination.

However, in this period of globalization, an upgraded level of proficiency in English with all the

four skills, i.e. reading, writing, speaking and listening, is a necessity in order to identify more

about people of various culture and nationality.


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Appendix

Survey Questions

1). Do you think teaching grammar efficiently would facilitate you to interact with the

passengers?

2). Do you think the use of authentic text would facilitate you to communicate with the

passengers?

3). Does playing interactive games in grammar and vocabulary improve English? Yes/No

4). Do you think activities like information gap would facilitate you in learning the language?

Yes/No

5). Do you think cooperative learning method would be more effective?

6). Does practicing comprehension helps to improve the understanding of English?

7). Do you think the use of communicative language teaching approach, CLT, can accelerate the

motivation among the learners and thus facilitate the language learning process?

8). Do you think language structure and vocabulary should be taught efficiently?

9). Do you think idioms and collocations should be taught efficiently?

10). Do you think the use of forms should be given more importance?

11). Do you think listening to audio tape would facilitate your language learning?

12). Would watching classical movies facilitate to learn English?

13). Do you prefer watching English movies with subtitles?


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14). Do you think that the aspects of politeness should be given more emphasis?

15). Do you think emphasizing on intonation and stress would facilitate language learning?

16). Do you think the use of correct pronunciations should be more emphasized?

17). Is your motivation behind learning English intrinsic?

18). Do you prefer learning a language mainly through imitation? How far do you agree?

19).Would you prefer English to be taught interactively? How far do you agree?

20). Does practicing tenses facilitate you to communicate with the passengers? How far do you

agree?

21). Does activities like role play, pair work and group work help you to communicate with the

passengers? How far do you agree?

22). Do you think the use of sign and body language would facilitate your communication with

the passenger? How far do you agree?

23). Do you think practicing dialogue writing would facilitate your communication with the

passengers? How far do you agree?

24). As a common language, if only English is used rather than any other languages, would this

be a better option? How far do you agree?

25). Do you think reading English Newspaper might aid you in learning the language? How far

do you agree?


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